1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to dispensing spools of rolled products and more particularly dispensing rolls of tape or wire for agriculture, specifically to the unrolling of barbed wire for animal fencing.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Since the invention of barbed wire, farmers have struggled to find an efficient means of unrolling the wire to build a fence. Many previous inventions have addressed this problem, however few are commercially available due to the inefficiency of their designs. The poor design of other wire dispensers, resulted in poor performance, high production cost or both.
The only commercially available wire dispenser in my area is marketed as the “Roll-A-Bob.” I was unable to find a patent on it during my search, however it is similar to a mulch layer U.S. Pat. No. 1,341,484 dated May 25, 1920 by H. E. Starratt. Although this device is competitively priced, the design is not ergonomic and inadequate for un-level terrain.    (a) The “Roll-A-Bob” is made from ⅜″ wire and has a slip ring to hold the limbs together. The wire limb is not rigid enough to allow a full roll of barbed wire to be lifted by grasping one of the side limbs. When this is attempted the limb simply bends at the slip ring and the device is permanently altered.    (b) The handle on the device is too narrow for a normal adult to pull it comfortably with both hands.    (c) The narrow handle also limits the torque control needed to keep the roll stable on un-level terrain.    (d) The handle is constructed from the same ⅜″ wire and is uncomfortably small in diameter.    (e) The design does not allow adjustment for different size rolls of product.
Many farmers place a long pole through the roll and utilize a person on each side of the pole to carry the wire along as it unrolls. This procedure has many safety hazards and ergonomic flaws.    (f) It is necessity to lift the heavy roll and carry it while dispensing.    (g) This method is also unsafe in that if one person walks faster than the other does, or if the wire gets tangled, the roll could slide on the bar and injure the workers.    (h) The pole must be carried horizontally to prevent gravity from sliding the roll on the pole and thus injuring the workers. This is difficult to do on un-level terrain.    (i) Because the pole must be carried horizontally, the pole method also has space limitations. The minimum width required to unroll the barbed wire is the width of the wire plus the width of the two people carrying the pole. Many times when a fence is built or repaired in a forested area, the wire must be unrolled between two trees or other objects and the pole will not fit.